Aquarell vs Paper
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Aquarell
Create digital art with realistic watercolor brushes, layers, and custom canvases. Perfect for sketching, illustration, and color studies on your iPhone or iPad.
- Realistic watercolor brushes
- Layer-based artwork creation
- Customizable brush settings
- Color palettes and sampling
- Text and font import
- Multiple export formats (PNG, JPEG, PDF, TIFF, PSD)
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Aquarell is a drawing and painting app for iPhone and iPad, with watercolor brushes, layers and custom canvases. Use it for digital illustration, freehand sketches, doodles and color studies—from a quick idea to a finished piece of art. MAKE EACH BRUSH YOUR OWN Adjust brush size, opacity and spacing to shape your strokes. Build a brush collection for expressive watercolor painting, line work and everyday sketching. BUILD YOUR ARTWORK IN LAYERS Keep your sketch, colors and finishing touches separate. Control layer opacity and blend modes, and use selections and masks to work on specific areas of your image. Undo and redo as you explore different ideas. EXPLORE COLOR AND COMPOSITION Choose colors, keep palettes and sample shades from your canvas. Work with a custom canvas size, zoom in for details and rotate the view for a comfortable drawing angle. Add text and import fonts to combine lettering with your illustrations. SAVE, SHARE AND KEEP CREATING Export PNG and JPEG images to share your work, or use PDF and TIFF for additional output options. Export PSD with pixel layers for further editing. Save in the native Aquarell artwork format to continue working in the app. Aquarell brings brushes, color and layers into one mobile art workspace. Sketch a landscape, paint a portrait, explore a palette or make an original illustration on your iPhone or iPad.
Paper
Create intricate 3D models with a tactile, paper-art feel. This app offers unparalleled spatial freedom, allowing you to draw directly into 3D space without a canvas. Sculpt complex shapes using intuitive tools and realistic materials.
- Zero-canvas 3D drawing
- Intuitive OmniJoystick control
- Tactile drawing and geometry tools
- Realistic material library
- Cinematic lighting presets
- Professional export options (USDZ, OBJ)
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3D Paper Studio: The Most Tactile Modeling Experience on iPad. Step into a digital atelier where the precision of CAD meets the soul of hand-crafted paper art. 3D Paper Studio is a first-of-its-kind creative suite designed specifically for iPad and Apple Pencil, allowing you to build complex 3D structures as easily as drawing on paper. Draw freely in 3D space and use any 3D stroke as a canvas to draw over as well to enhance your ideas and creative expressions. INFINITE SPATIAL FREEDOM: NO CANVAS REQUIRED Forget everything you know about 3D drawing. Unlike other apps that force you to create a canvas surface or plane before you draw, 3D Paper Studio gives you total spatial freedom. Start your stroke anywhere in 3D space and let it flow. Our engine handles the complex coordinate math so you can focus on the form. Draw in thin air, bridge gaps, and weave intricate 3D webs without ever feeling "stuck" to a 2D surface. THE OMNI-JOYSTICK: CONTROL DEPTH WITH ONE THUMB Experience the revolutionary OmniJoystick—the heart of our interaction model. While your Apple Pencil handles the art, your other thumb controls the universe. The same joystick becomes an object controller when any object/s is selected. No need to draw complicated canvases; Simply long press on the ground or any other stroke to set the precise drawing position and start painting in 3D space. Real-time Depth Control: Glide through the Z-axis as you draw to create sweeping 3D curves. Precision Snapping: Use the joystick to "Lock" to specific axes or snap to existing 3D "Magnets" for perfect alignment. Tactile Feedback: Feel the "click" of the grid as you navigate through your 3D studio. BEYOND DRAWING: TRUE 3D GEOMETRY Don't just sketch—extrude, revolve, and sweep. Use our advanced geometry engine to create ribbons, tubes, and complex lathes with a single stroke. The Bridge Tool: Connect two existing points with a sinuous paper ribbon that respects the surface normals of both objects. The Revolve Tool: Turn a single profile into a 3D vessel, bowl, or column in seconds. Edge Perturbation: Choose between "Clean" or "Torn" edges to give your models a raw, hand-crafted aesthetic. PHYSICAL MATERIALS & CINEMATIC LIGHTING Watch your creations come to life with our high-end material library. Choose from Smooth Bristol, Cold-Press Watercolor, Crumpled Foil, Corrugated Cardboard, and more. Use Cinematic Looks to light your scene with professional studio presets like Golden Hour, Midnight, and Vaporwave. KEY FEATURES: Zero-Canvas Drawing: Draw directly into 3D space with no setup required. OmniJoystick Workflow: Master depth, rotation, and snapping with a single, intuitive control. Tactile Tools: Draw, Bridge, Arc, and Revolve to create complex 3D meshes. Advanced Deformers: Warp, Twist, and Liquify your 3D geometry in real-time. Symmetry Engine: Mirror and Radial symmetry for intricate architectural patterns. Professional Export: Save your work as USDZ for AR, or OBJ for professional 3D pipelines. Camera Tours: Create cinematic fly-throughs and export them as high-quality video. UNLEASH YOUR CREATIVITY IN 3D. Join a new generation of designers who are redefining what it means to create on iPad. 3D Paper Studio—where paper becomes infinite. The app supports finger touch drawing but we recommend using apple Pencil for the best drawing experience and to access pressure sensitivity features. No subscriptions - Ever! Once you purchase the app, thats it. No additional in-app purchases, no subscriptions ever again. Every future update will be free for the life of the app.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is rating: Paper at 5.0 against Aquarell's 3.0. Paper also leads on update cadence (every 9 days vs every 12 months). Aquarell's advantage is price ($0.99 vs $6.99) and chart position (#190 vs unranked). On ratings volume, ads, in-app purchases and monetization model there is nothing between them.
Scored on Price · Rating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings · Update frequency · Ads · In-app purchases · Monetization · Best chart rank · Devices · Requires iOS
Aquarell costs $0.99 and Paper $6.99 up front. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.
Paper holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 3.0. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 3 and 2 respectively.
Aquarell ships an update every 12 months, Paper every 9 days. The most recent releases landed on November 7, 2026 and October 31, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Aquarell | Paper |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $0.99 — better | $6.99 |
| Rating | 3.0 (3 ratings) | 5.0 (2 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 0.0% of reviews | — |
| Number of ratings | 3 — better | 2 |
| Update frequency | Every 12 months | Every 9 days — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Paid | Paid |
| Best chart rank | #190 — better | — |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod — better | iPad |
| Requires iOS | 15.0 — better | 26.4 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 23 MB | 3 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Anyi County Bingzhiyi Trading Co., Ltd. | Imran Gul |
Customer experience
Aquarell
Paper
In-app purchases
Aquarell
No in-app purchases
Paper
No in-app purchases








